THE crime and disorder audit which shows the Malvern Hills district is currently one of the most crime-free areas of the UK nevertheless includes interesting detail about the types of offences committed here and what people think about them.

The audit - the work of the Community Safety Partnership, which includes district and county councils, health and social services and other bodies - is intended to give a picture of what crime occurs where, which can be used to devise anti-crime strategies.

Unsurprisingly, the audit shows that rural wards have the lowest crime rates, and the town centre - the Priory ward - the highest, with an average of 116.16 offences per 1,000 population. Link is next, with 79.67 per 1,000.

"As would be expected," says the report, "a significant proportion of these crimes are shoplifting and thefts of and from motor vehicles."

More crimes are committed on Fridays and Saturdays than other days, with between 6pm and 7pm as the peak times. Crime fluctuates during the year, with 19.2 per cent more crimes being committed in June than the monthly average.

Most offenders are men (84 per cent) and the vast majority of them are aged 16-29. Males, too are the main victims of crime (60.8 per cent), and the age group most likely to be victims is 35-44.

People over 70 are far less likely to be victims of crime overall, but this changes drastically with burglaries, where victims between 60 and 80 suffered 31.95 per cent of burglaries and those aged 80-plus 10.31 per cent.

The wards which suffer the highest levels of domestic burglaries are Link and Langlands in Malvern, and the Hanleys. For non-domestic burglaries, it is Link and Priory, with high rates also in Upton.

Link, Priory and Trinity show the highest rates of vehicle crime, (18 offences per 1,000 population), and for anti-social behaviour, Langland comes top (23.19 per 1,000).

Between 1998, when the last audit was made, and now, drug offences have fallen by more than half, from 115 to 53. Langland, Link, Chase and Upton have all seen significant falls, with only three wards - Longdon, Priory and Trinity - showing an increase, and that a slight one.

Possession or production of cannabis account for over two-thirds of drug offences. Drugs are also a vice of youth, with the age-groups 15-24 accounting for 60 per cent of cases and no offenders at all over the ages of 54.

Part of the audit was a questionnaire that was circulated to thousands of households to find out about people's attitudes to crime.

The survey found that a higher police profile was what people most wanted to see.

Just under half of respondents felt there was a problem with speeding in the district, and about three-quarters of them favoured stricter enforcement of existing speed limits to deal with the problems. Between 1998 and 2001 there were 281 serious accidents in the Malvern wards and 313 in the surrounding rural wards.

Young people are seen as a problem by some: about half of respondents in Langland, Link and Upton say that youngsters hanging around after school is a problem.

But young people also have crime worries of their own: just over a fifth of 14-17-year-olds fear harassment for reasons of race, religion and sexuality, compared to just 4.9 per cent of all respondents. Young people also felt less safe in the town centres than other age groups.

But generally, the Malvern Hills district is seen to be safe, with 95.9 per cent feeling safe walking about by daylight in their own areas and 73.1 per cent at night.

Elderly need more support

A MALVERN charity that works for older people has warned that action needs to be taken to address how vulnerable the district's elderly feel.

George Waugh, chief officer of Malvern & District Age Concern, was reacting to the crime and disorder audit produced by the Malvern Hills district's Community Safety Partnership.

The report says that older groups, aged 70 and above, were far less likely to be victims of crime overall.

But Mr Waugh said: "Regardless of what the police say, the perception from elderly folk is they are very vulnerable.

"It is very easy to put percentages and figures on it but it doesn't reflect the perception."

The charity does try to address the problem of burglaries by carrying out security checks on elderly people's homes and fitting chains and spy holes when required.

It also responds to emergencies and will repair broken windows, usually on the day they are broken and gives advice on dealing with callers and checking identification.

Inspector Neville Sheldrick of Malvern police pointed out that one possible reason for the higher rate of burglaries among people over the age of 80 is that there were more people of that age in the Malvern area and that the number of burglaries was still much lower than in other parts of the Midlands.

"West Mercia Constabulary has recently teamed up with nine other police forces in Operation Liberal, a national initiative to combat doorstep thieves.

"We also support Age Concern's measures to help the elderly in identifying a caller before allowing them into their home. Householders should also remember if they are worried about a caller, they should contact the police immediately," he said.

Car park safety to be reviewed

MALVERN HILLS District Council has said it is looking at ways to reduce vehicle crime on its car parks after The Splash's Priory Road car park came in the top four for reported incidences of car crime.

Figures released in a Crime and Disorder Audit compiled by the Malvern Hills Community Safety Partnership show that 16 cars parked in both The Splash car park and Waitrose's Edith Walk car park were targeted between April 1998 and March 2001.

Only two other car parking locations in the district, on-street car parking in Hanley Road in Malvern Wells, and the Road Chef Motor Services at the M5 in Hill Croome have been victim to a higher number of incidences, 22 and 21 respectively.

Head of MHDC client services, Paul Sobczyk, said that the figures did not take into account the relative sizes of the car parks, with the Priory Road site being one of the biggest in the district with 168 spaces.

He said: "However, the worry is that if we had a large number of vehicle crime incidences on a car park there may be something wrong with that car park and there may be ways to make it more secure, such as lighting. We would want to look at that. As part of our present car parks review we will have a look at more detail at this issue."

In the same audit, a residents' parking area at Viscount Cobham Court in Welland was shown to have suffered 12 incidents in the same period and Safeway supermarket's car park in Roman Way, Malvern Link, 10.